The Great Escape
by tildemarco
Summary: A short little ditty about the urge to be free and being yourself. I recommend looking up the song and listening while you read. It's a good song. Implied HHr.
1. Chapter 1

**I wrote this because I was supremely bored today and had nothing better to do. Please, tell me if it's absolute crap.**

"Paper bags and plastic hearts

All our belongings in shopping carts

It's goodbye

But we got one more night

Lets get drunk and ride around

And make peace with an empty town

We can make it right,"

"What's that noise?" Harry looked around their group, confused and attempting to locate the source of his bewilderment.

"Sorry, Harry. I was humming…" Hermione admitted sheepishly. She prayed he would drop it, but Harry was nothing if not curious.

"What song?"

Hermione blushed. Her taste in music wasn't exactly what anyone would expect out of 'our dearest Hermione.' "Um, it's called _The Great Escape, _by a band called Boys Like Girls."

Unexpectedly, Harry grinned. "I know that song! Which is weird, because I'm not exactly your average pop culture junkie."

"You know it? But, it's American!" Hermione was incredulous.

Harry shrugged. "You know it," he pointed out matter-of-factly.

Hermione grinned and started singing again, belting the chorus with an idiotic smile on her face. Harry joined in almost immediately.

"Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We'll make the great escape

We wont hear a word they say

They don't know us anyway

Watch it burn

Let it die

Cause we are finally free tonight,"

By now they were getting scandalized looks from the students passing their tree by the lake. The others around them just looked amused.

"Hey! I know that song!" The group looked up to see none other than Hannah Abbot running toward them. Harry and Hermione had continued singing, and Hannah simply joined in, adding her delightful soprano to the still-growing mix.

"Tonight will change our lives

It's so good to be by your side

And we'll cry

But we wont give up the fight

We'll scream loud at the top of our lungs

They'll think it's just cause were young

But we'll feel so alive,"

Harry, grinning evilly, stood and pulled Hermione to her feet. Just as they started the chorus again he did the oddest thing (in the opinions of the confused people looking on). He started head banging.

Hermione and Hannah laughed and joined in, Hermione throwing a hand up and **jumping up and down. **The weirdest thing about it was that she didn't look at all odd. It seemed that Hogwart's resident bookworm attended a few concerts in her day.

"Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We'll make the great escape

We wont hear a word they say

They don't know us anyway

Watch it burn

Let it die

Cause we are finally free tonight,

"All of the wasted time

The hours that were left behind

The answers that we'll never find

They don't mean a thing tonight"

The party of three danced uproariously to the guitar interlude that was playing at top volume inside their heads, looking like complete head cases all the while, and not caring one whit. Then their volume dropped significantly.

"Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We'll make the great escape

We wont hear a word they say

They don't know us anyway,"

Suddenly, the three were yelling again. Their friends just sat back and laughed.

"Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We'll make the great escape

We wont hear a word they say

They don't know us anyway

Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We'll make the great escape

We wont hear a word they say

They don't know us anyway

Watch it burn

Let it die

Cause we are finally free tonight…"

Hermione sighed and fell to the ground, Harry following a moment later. Suddenly, Hannah looked awkward and tried to leave, but Harry grabbed her ankle and she toppled to the ground. Harry grinned sheepishly, but Hermione was laughing loudly and it was rather infectious. Hannah couldn't help but join in.

"Are you guys done being freaks yet?" Ron asked from his spot leaning against the tree, his girlfriend Luna held close to his chest.

Hermione sat up and shook her head defiantly at him, "NEVER!" She yelled dramatically, before falling back down to the green grass. "Damn, well now I just want to go on a road trip!"

"Well, who says we can't?" Harry piped in. Hermione whipped her head around to see if he was kidding or not.

"Hermione, babe, Voldemort's dead, it's a two days _after_ graduation, exams are over, and there's absolutely no point in us staying here one moment longer. Why not go on a road trip? We could buy a car with the money you know I have, and just drive. Maybe sell the car and catch a boat to America, where we'd just buy another one. Travel the world, see _everything_. Let's do it. Right now."

"Oh my god, you're not kidding!" Hermione was shocked. Harry was ecstatic. He turned to look at Hannah.

"What about you? Do you want to come?"

Hannah grinned at the opportunity to be included. Wherever Harry went, adventure was sure to follow. She nodded enthusiastically.

"See, Hermione, that's two out of three, you're coming." It was said as if it was final, but there was still a question in her best friend's eyes.

Hermione sighed exasperatedly, but truly she was glad he'd convinced her. "Alright…" She grinned, "Hannah, is there anyone you want to bring that would blend well in both worlds?"

Hannah's face lit once again. "Can Michael come? Michael Corner?"

Harry's face fell dramatically, and he pouted comically, "Is he your boyfriend? Gosh darn it! I'm so jealous!" He flicked his eyes at his best friend and begged with his eyes for Hannah to play along.

Hannah grinned obligingly and winked at the Boy-Who-Just-Won't-Die, "He tries, but he could never match up to _you_, Harry, my sweet."

The 'sweet' in question laughed raucously at the look on Hermione's face, which she probably wasn't aware of, and pulled the offended girl into his lap. "Don't worry, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear, "No one could ever take _your_ place in my heart."

Abruptly, and in frightening unison, the three stood. Well, Harry and Hannah stood, and Hermione was plucked up into Harry's arms with never a by-your-leave, and they all strode purposefully across the grounds to go seek out Michael Corner and then to flee campus for good.

Three days later would found the four new friends in the very first Mazda Senku ever to roll off the assembly line, practically flying down a highway somewhere in Europe. They would never know exactly where.

And for miles after they'd passed, you could still hear the stereo blaring,

"Throw it away

Forget yesterday

We'll make the great escape

We won't hear a word they say

They don't know us anyway

Watch it burn

Let it die

Cause we are finally free tonight."

Mazda Senku: www dot the auto channel dot com / news / 2006 / 02 / 15 / 210851 dot 5 dash lg dot jpg


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Hey everybody. So I was riffling through my stats today and noticed that a ton of people (okay 2) put this on story alert. Which perplexed me, you see, because this was originally intended as a oneshot. But I reread the story, and discovered that, indeed, it did leave a lot of room for elaboration. So that's what I did: elaborated.

"Why didn't Ron come? He'd love it here…" Hannah sighed wistfully. A warm spring breeze tickled her neck as the foursome meandered about one of the most extravagant French gardens they'd come across yet. She honestly believed this was the most beautiful place she'd ever been.

Hermione chuckled. "No, he wouldn't. He's really not a walk-through-the-gardens type of guy. And he and his family were visiting Charlie in Romania again, weren't they, Harry?"

"Yeah, sans Pettigrew this time, I hope." The four stopped to wait for Hannah as she admired a particularly beautiful rose. Silently, she tugged a single petal from the flower, one that would have been shed soon anyway, and tucked it neatly into her pinafore. The three onlookers noticed, but made no mention of it. Michael, with a small smile, swore to himself that someday he'd give her a garden she could call her own. After all, his angel deserved much more than everything he could give her, and there were very few things he wouldn't do for her.

The troupe had become quite close in the last three weeks, traveling the continent in their state-of-the-art hybrid. With four duffels in the back, four sleeping bags, four pillows, one large stuffed rabbit, and a tourist's map of Europe, they had set out for the adventure of a lifetime, and so far had experienced a few of the great beauties of the world.

They'd started small, a tiny hole-in-the-wall hostel in London, and branched out from there. Since then, they'd been to Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Each city they found had a hostel to accommodate them, and if they ever found one that didn't, they'd merely stay the day, drive through the night, and find another city to explore the next day.

France, being so large and culturally diverse, took longer than other places. There really was no plan; the teens were literally taking each day as it came, and indulging their whims accordingly. Hermione had made them swear, though, that Paris would be their next stop and that they'd stay at least three days. She wanted them to visit Versailles, and experience the Louvre, and Hannah had insisted that while they were there, they must sit and think with the Thinker. It was an interesting concept, the others agreed, and swore they'd do it.

But for now they were enjoying the bright sun on their backs as they took a brief jaunt through the most beautiful garden any of them had seen before. Hannah was admiring the flowers, Michael was admiring Hannah, Harry was debating whether or not to slip his hand into Hermione's, and Hermione was wishing fervently that he would.

However, fate was not so inclined, as at that very moment, Michael, who was walking backwards so as to better admire Hannah admiring the flowers, tripped over a break in the pathway, fell head over heels and landed in the shallows of a nearby duck pond. Poor Michael.

Beet red with embarrassment and completely soaked, Michael pleaded with his friends to, one, stop laughing at him, and two, to get him out of this garden! It just wasn't his day.

But as the merry (and one not-so-merry) foursome made their way back to the car, which they had named, quite randomly, Jane aka "Sexy", the sun began to set over a field of daffodils and not even Michael, who was still exceedingly uncomfortable, could resist stopping for a few minutes and simply gawking at the sight he beheld.

A sea of yellow flowers raised their heads to the sun's receding warmth, which cast a reddish glow across their faces. Harry glanced at the girl on his left, still staring out at the spectacle. Her brown hair glistened in the sunlight, setting her face aflame in a plethora of reds and golds, and convincing Harry, yet again, that he was in the company of an angel.

Suddenly, it was over. The sun was gone, eaten by the abyss of the horizon, and the burning daffodils returned to their original, pale yellow. With a disappointed sigh, Hermione turned to continue their trek down the lane and met Harry's eyes. He hadn't stopped staring at her, and the intensity of his gaze startled her.

"… Harry?"

"You don't have any idea, do you?"

"W-what?" Hermione stammered, flustered by the way he was looking at her. She simply couldn't read his face, and that terrified her.

Michael and Hannah subtly made their way down the road, getting out of earshot as fast as they could. Something told them that this conversation was not one to be overheard.

"You have no idea how much I love you." He had no control over the words he spoke anymore, no way to halt their progress from the recesses of his mind directly out his mouth.

Silence.

"… Hermione, you are the most beautiful, smart, loving, kind, amazing person I know. I don't know how I'd exist if I weren't with you. You make me so happy, just being with you, watching you with other people. Those little kids in Brussels…

**_FLASHBACK:_**

_"Hey, guys, could you do me a favor?" Hermione asked innocently in near perfect French, the question directed at a small group of incredibly thin children. Immediately, she had their attention._

_"I was wondering if you could show me where the nearest bookstore is. I have no idea the currency around here, so how about I'd give each of you each…" She thought about it, "five of these, and we'll say we're even? Hm?" She held up a handful of small silver coins, an innocently hopeful expression on her face._

_The children looked amazed. This woman wanted to give them the equivalent of 4 pounds sterling (approx. 7.75) _each_ for leading her twenty yards around the corner? Well, who were they to pass that up?_

END FLASHBACK

"… And swimming in the river with all of those German women?" Harry laughed at that one. She'd spotted them taking a dip in the river as she and the gang had driven over the bridge. Immediately demanded they pull over, got out of the car, took off her shoes and socks, and jumped over the bridge's rail with a fear-inspiring war cry she'd undoubtedly picked up from too one many episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess.

"You… _astonish_ me, Hermione, and I don't think I could live without you." He smiled down at her, such adoration shining in his eyes that Hermione was forced to look away.

"… Harry, has it ever occurred to you that I might not be… the perfect woman you paint me as?" She whispered nervously, barely audible.

To her utter shock, Harry, instead of contemplating her words, threw his head back and laughed. It was a rich, ringing sound and Hermione closed her eyes momentarily so as to remember its tone forever. "Mione, I've known you since we were eleven. I know for a fact that you're not perfect. If anything, I think it's your faults that make me love you even more. The way you get annoyed easily when Ron or I do something particularly idiotic. Or the way you drum your fingers incessantly when you're nervous. How you _can't stand_ not knowing something and will do practically anything to figure it out. I love you for the little things, too. The little idiosyncrasies that I'm pretty sure even Ron hasn't noticed. I love you for the way you braid your hair when there's nothing to do with your hands, and the little smile you have on your face when you've successfully performed a particularly challenging spell, the one that says, 'I did well, but I'm not going to be conceited about it.' Really, Hermione, I could go on forever about how you're not perfect."

It took her a few minutes to process all this. She stood there, staring at her childhood best friend with her mouth hanging open, a grin slowly forming on her face. Harry loved her.

Harry loved her.

Harry loved her.

Harry loved her…

And she loved Harry.

Instantly she was in his arms, her hands twining around his neck, his arms pulling her closer as their lips met for the first time.

There were no fireworks, no angels singing on high, none of those cheap, Disney-made ideas about your first kiss with your soul mate. But there was an electricity that shot through the two of them and left them tingling long after the kiss had ended. It was one thing neither would forget.

Hermione, held safe inside the circle of Harry's arms, was more content than she ever knew she could be. She was where she belonged, and knew of no other place she would be nearly this happy.

And Harry rested his chin on her head, cradling her to him, completely unwilling to ever let her go again. Elation surged through his veins like endorphins on steroids, and he just knew.

This was going to last forever.

So that's it: The Great Escape. I hope you liked it, because I've filled my extreme fluff quota for several months now. I had to reference every single romance movie I've ever seen just to write Harry's declaration (which feels way too long and totally unnatural) but anyways… Thank you for reading, and I'm always interested to see how I can improve. Don't hesitate to criticize!

**Love, Bombshell9**


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